Episode #63
Lamb of God – Dead Seeds (intro)
Steel Panther – Tomorrow Night
Noah Gunderson – Family
Lou Reed & Metallica – The View
Fair To Midland – Golden Parachutes
Bon Iver – Holocene
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Episode 62
Lamb of God – Redneck (intro)
Joe Bonamassa – The Ballad of John Henry
Harvard – Hand to Hesitate
Frightened Rabbit – Swim Until You Can’t See Land
Gojira – Toxic Garbage Island
Dawes – When My Time Comes
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Episode 62
Lamb of God – Redneck (intro)
Joe Bonamassa – The Ballad of John Henry
Harvard – Hand to Hesitate
Frightened Rabbit – Swim Until You Can’t See Land
Gojira – Toxic Garbage Island
Dawes – When My Time Comes
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Episode #61
Clutch – The Wake of the Swollen Goat
Historic Stork – Here It Ends
Jonsi – Grow Till Tall
Cee Lo Green – I Want You
Amos Lee – Windows are Rolled Down
Peter Gabriel – Sky Blue
Historic Stork – Find Out
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Episode 60
Deftones – Rickets
The Boom Boom Box – Shivers
The Tallest Man On Earth – The Wild Hunt
Adele – Rolling in the Deep
Sigur Ros – Untitled #1 (Vaka)
The Boom Boom Box – Henry the Skunk
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Episode 59 – Fucked by Monet
Motorhead – Ace of Spades (Intro)
Shaolin Death Squad – Tale of the Peacock
Radiohead – Morning Mr. Magpie
The Antlers – Kettering
Volcano Choir – Island, IS
Animals as Leaders – The Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing
Shaolin Death Squad – Lizard
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Episode 58 – Glen Farris
Strapping Young Lad – Rape Song
Glen Farris – When The Dawn Finds You
Beach House – Ten Mile Stereo
For A Minor Reflection – A Moll
Meiko – Hawaii
Glen Farris – More Than One Way
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Potentially career defining albums by some of my favorite bands kept my “new” music listening to a minimum this year. To be honest, I probably could have listed the top five in January of last year and been close to where I am now.
1. The National “High Violet”
On the surface, a workmanlike effort that slightly refines a developed, successful formula. With repeated listens though, you discover a band that has managed to take it’s already epic orchestration to even greater heights, while Matt Berninger has proven himself to be a transcendent lyricist – a poet for the ages and the aged.
Standout tracks: “Terrible Love”, “Lemonworld”, “England”
2. The Walkmen “Lisbon”
With genres and popular movements swinging in and out of vogue from month to month, The Walkmen have managed to develop a singular sound, that is decidedly “The Walkmen.” They’ve never seemed as comfortable with themselves as they do on “Lisbon”, at once free and easy, careful and precise, and without a hint of laziness or fatigue.
Standout tracks: “Angela Surf City”, “Blue as Your Blood”, “Lisbon”
3. Beach House “Teen Dream”
Where previous Beach House efforts were quiet, subtle, and haunting,“Teen Dream” is an excited affair, finding the band comfortable with turning up the volume. With the passion dialed up a notch, Victoria Legrand emerges as the iconic female voice thats been missing from modern indie rock.
Standout Tracks: “Walk in the Park”, “Ten Mile Stereo”
4. Sufjan Stevens – “The Age of Adz”
Incredibly ambitious, Stevens has (for the most part) replaced the delicate orchestration of his last few proper full lengths with harsh electronics and difficult arrangements. As to be expected with an intensely personal, desperately reaching record, the misses come nearly as often as the hits – looking at you, “Bad Communication” – but the hits are some of the most powerful, emotional moments in Steven’s increasingly impressive catalog.
Standout tracks: “The Age of Adz”, “Impossible Soul”, “Vesuvius”
5. Deerhunter “Halcyon Digest”
Deerhunter, once again, has managed to produce inescapable, endlessly repeatable singles encased in one of the few genuine “album experiences” a listener can expect to find in the MP3 age. A truly group effort, guitarist Locket Pundt provides the albums best songs (specifically “Desire Lines”), while Bradford Cox invokes his bedroom pop Atlas Sound persona to great atmospheric effect.
Standout tracks: “Helicopter”, “Fountain Stairs”, “Desire Lines”
The also rans:
6. Wild Nothing “Gemini” – Standout Tracks: “Confirmation”, “Our Composition Book”
7. The Tallest Man on Earth “The Wild Hunt” – Standout Tracks: “King of Spain”, “Love is All”
8. Vampire Weekend “Contra” – Standout Tracks: “Run”,”Giving U p the Gun”
9. Arcade Fire “The Suburbs”- Standout Tracks: “Ready to Start”, “We Used to Wait”
10. Twin Shadow “Forget” – Standout Tracks: “Tyrant Destroyed”, “Castles in the Snow”
Elijah’s Top 10
10. Ray Lamontagne & The Pariah Dogs– God Willing & the Creek Don’t Rise
Standout Track: Repo Man
9. Shapes Stars Make – These Mountains Are Safe
Standout Track: And The Sky Opened
8. Doug Burr - O Ye Devastator
Standout Track: Topeka
7. Band of Horses – Infinite Arms
Standout Track: Laredo
6. Jonsi – Go
Standout Track: Grow Till Tall
5. Interpol – Interpol
Truth be told, this album was not the greatest thing that Interpol has ever put out, but considering they are one of my go-to bands, they can put out a sub-par album and still be better than half of what I listened to this year. The video for the first single, ‘Lights’, is one of the creepiest things I have ever seen. Paul Banks is in fine form in singing lyrics that after hours of reading between the lines, still leaves me scratching my head.
Standout Track: All of the Ways
4. Balmorhea – Constellations
I don’t really know what to say about this band other than, if you haven’t had the opportunity to see/hear/experience them, then you are missing out… Greatly. This instrumental band from Austin always puts me in a great mood, not only because they are doing something beautiful, but because they are so fucking good at it. It’s bands like Balmorhea that ruin my ability to listen to music as background music, simply because I have to pay attention to it and I can’t thank them enough.
Standout Track: Bowsprit
3. Deftones – Diamond Eyes
Holy shit. This album hit me like a ton of bricks. I had low expectations for this album because I wasn’t gaga over the last 2 albums (Saturday Night Wrist & Deftones), but once I listened to it all the way through, I was hooked. Such a fantastic album. It’s heavier than lead gorilla shit when it needs to be, but then there are some amazing melodies that only Chino & Co can pull off. I had the pleasure of seeing them at Trees with some of my closest friends, and that’s probably why it’s shaping up to be the concert of the year for me.
Standout Track: Sextape
2. The National – High Violet
Oh shit, I dunno where to start with this album. Lemme just start off by saying that “Yes, The National is an acquired taste”. Matt Berninger has the type of voice that can make you turn away in disgust or be enthralled. It has taken me a good while to develop my fondness for this band. This album helped out its case tremendously. Their uber-literate lyrics make me feel way smarter than I really am and have the ability to tug at my heartstrings. For instance:
“Sorrow found me when I was young,
Sorrow waited, sorrow won.
Sorrow that put me on the pills,
It’s in my honey it’s in my milk.
It’s only about half a heart alone
On the water,
Cover me in rag and bones, sympathy.
Cause I don’t wanna get over you.
I don’t wanna get over you.” – Sorrow
Standout Track: England
With all that being said, High Violet was my #1 for most of the year, until this happened.
1. Sufjan Stevens – Age of Adz/All Delighted People EP
Few albums have the ability to take over your ability to listen to anything else quite like this album did. AA/ADP took me by a complete surprise. I had no idea that Sufjan was even working on a new album when he announced that he was releasing an EP and then an LP shortly after it. I approached with caution since it’s been a few years since the masterful Illinoise and I suppose I had to work my way back into his style of music. When he released the EP, I was somewhat disappointed due to the inclusion of 2 of the same songs, which to me says ‘filler’ written all over it. Little did I know that with subsequent listenings, it would slowly take me over. The EP, to me is a completely separate entity than The Age of Adz, and rightfully so. The EP uses mostly real instruments and is a glimpse of Illinoise-era Sufjan. But for me, it’s way better. Maybe it’s the lyrics.
Then The Age of Adz comes out a few weeks later. I made the mistake of attempting to listen to this album while I was at work. Big mistake. As I stated earlier, I have trouble listening to music as a background, especially during work. I have to focus on it, and I couldn’t do that at work. So upon the first listening, I didn’t care for it. It’s a bit of a departure for him and I wasn’t expecting a departure. This album is very heavy on the electronics. Synths, electronic drums and even Auto-Tune are on this record. The blips and bloops were all I could hear and that bothered me. So I shelved it for a week or so. Luckily enough, with my painting ritual, I listen to an album from start to finish while I paint/ponder. I gave it another shot. From that moment on, my thoughts on the record changed. I can’t tell you that I made any progress on the painting I was working on, because quite frankly, I forgot I was even working on one. I was taken aback by the utter heartbreak that was being sung. Several lyrics in the album are particularly heart-wrenching and give me a slight sinking feeling whenever I hear them.
“It’s only that I still love you deeply, it’s all the love I’ve got” – The Age of Adz
“Seems I got it wrong, I was chasing after something that was gone” – Impossible Soul
But ultimately this album is about breaking through the other side of anything that breaks you and and starting the fixing process. There are so many standouts on these 2 releases. Enchanting Ghost, The Age of Adz, I Walked, Impossible Soul (the 25 minute long epic that gets better everytime I listen to it), it would be hard to pick just one to recommend listening to.
Episode 57
Blotted Science – Synaptic Plasticity (intro)
The Spectacle – Nihilistic Apocalypse*
Tom Waits – Tom Traubert’s Blues
Wesley Willis – Suck a Caribou’s Ass
Wesley Willis – Cut the Mullet
Monanans - Quell
The Spectacle – Greed Feeding Youth*
“incorrectly identified during the episode
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